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When Bad Covers Happen to Good Books

Here I go again, harping on and on about book covers when there are far more pressing matters to be concerned about. But seriously, 72% of the time that I’ve found a book to read, it was because the cover art caught my attention. So maybe this whole book-look thing is something to think about since I wrote a whole post about it and even took the time to add a thumb-sucked statistic to drive my point home. Let’s get to it then! Shall we?

ARCHER’S VOICE BY MIA SHERIDAN: I can understand that sometimes Indie authors don’t want to spend a ton of money on a cover. I get that. But I hate, utterly completely with every fibre in my being, detest, when a book is published with this kind of cover. It’s as if the author has no confidence in their work and is selling the book using the appeal of sex. It turns my stomach because I feel this is something society should be moving far away from. When a book has piqued my interest I like for the cover to reflect the beauty of the content. And that is exactly what was hidden behind that awful cover – a beautiful, beautiful story!

TALL, TATTED AND TEMPTING BY TAMMY FALKNER: I feel really shallow for admitting what I am about to say. But in the spirit of being honest, I will just come out and admit that I gave this book a miss a good couple of times because of the cover. I don’t like it when a book has a person/people on the cover because it puts a picture in my mind of what the characters look like, when I should be developing my own ideas on that kind of details. Not only is the picture a let down, but the font is, to put it boldly, all kinds of wrong! For such a lovely read, it breaks my heart that a lot of people won’t get to experience it because of the unappealing exterior.SLAMMED BY COLLEEN HOOVER: My two favourite books by Colleen Hoover? Hands down Hopeless and Slammed. I chose to read Hopeless first because it had the better cover, and then I moved on to Slammed because I fell in love with Colleen Hoover’s writing. I soaked up every ounce of this book – it was that good! I adored the characters, the poetry gave me goose bumps and the story line was lovely too… Here comes the BUT though: the cover was awe-FUL! I wish the publishers placed a little more thought and effort into it because it should have been as amazing as the content.

A DIFFERENT BLUE BY AMY HARMON: This book is about love, friendship and above all else – the search of a lost identity. Amy Harmon’s characters in this story reflected genuine strength and courage, which made it difficult to forget. I just wish it had a better cover to remember it by!

RULE BY JAY CROWNOVER: Out of all the books in this series, Rule is my favourite by a long shot. I read this one years ago so it is difficult to say if I’d still hold it in such high regard if I were to read it again, but I remember how much I enjoyed the perfectly flawed characters in here. It is a shame the cover isn’t the best, but we can’t have everything, now can we?

CHARADE BY NYRAE DAWN: I keep saying that I enjoyed this book far more than To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before; but the masses seem to lean much closer to the latter. As wonderful as Charade is, the cover is equally terrible. It didn’t stop me from loving the story though!

HARRY POTTER BY J.K. ROWLING: I almost didn’t add this one because I love the whole Harry Potter franchise. I am sorry, but it’s true. A big factor for me not reading these books when I was younger were the eye sore covers. Thank goodness they’ve created the beautiful editions that I am currently collecting. Although, the fact that Harry Potter turned the world on its head just shows that there are far more important things than a cover! And if a book is good, there is very little that will stop people from enjoying it.

Are you someone who gets lured in by a pretty cover?

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I agree, book covers are important. I know they say not to judge a book by it’s cover but so many time’s I’ve put a book because the cover was bad. When browsing the shelves in a book shop, there’s so many books and I can’t read the back of every single one – gotta narrow the field down somehow. First I scan the spines for interesting names, then look at the cover and if it stands out, then I read the back 🙂

I am the same!! There is just no time to read every single blurb, especially that of a book/author that I have never heard of! I hate getting caught in the trap of finding a book with a good cover, only to realise that the story is sucky, though :/ That has happened to me so many times! I always prefer the better story, above a good cover. But sometimes these crappy things happen, I’m afraid! Hope you’re having a lovely day, Emma 🙂

Hello I found your blog through South African Bloggers Facebook page, I am an avid reader too but had lost the mojo and decided this year was the year was where I get back to my hobby. I laughed at the post because it was like you were describing me, I hate bad covers or the overly sexy ones – which strange because I read alot of hot and steamy romances as well so I should be used to it. I am a hypocrite yes i admit it. I am looking forward to reading more on your blog about the books you read. Take care

I am sad to hear that you lost your drive to read; but I can assure you it happens all the time. Life can get so hectic that you find it hard to scrape a little bit of time aside to sit down and relax with a book. I was in a terrible reading slump myself last year – I was always busy/tired/just didn’t feel like reading which was so unlike me – it made me so unhappy. And then all of a sudden, out of the clear blue skies I picked up a book and just read. I got to stuck into it that it became a habit again.

Hahaha I always enjoy it when people can relate to something I am guilty of myself LOL! I enjoy a good romance but I hate smutty covers – it is so off putting to me. I have read some really good romance novels with absolutely stunning covers (you can check some out on my Instagram page) so I know it is very much possible to get it right.

I totally agree! Most of my books have been bought because they have pretty book covers. Actually, whenever I’m in a bookstore searching for new books to buy, I always check out the ones with interesting covers. No matter how much other people tell me not to just books by its cover, I just can’t help it!

Hello, Mara! Tell me about it, I am always knocking myself in the head but never seem to learn my lesson. I just can’t bring myself to place a book on my shelf with an ugly cover 🙁 I guess I am superficial in this way!

Yikes! I wouldn’t have picked up any of those books as a result of those covers! I’ve been reading e-books almost exclusively for the past 2 years, and as a result have read many, many books that I would never have glanced in because of the cover art. Your selection here basically sums up my least favourite types of covers – except for Harry Potter, at least one of my collection comes from that range!

Hi Nadia! This just shows how important cover art is because it is the first impression you get of a book. I have been reading a lot of ebooks myself and you get loads of amazing books that have terrible covers! I love Harry Potter but I always disliked the covers as a child. The latest editions are beautiful though so I have started collecting those 🙂

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Hello and welcome! I’m Nihaad, a twenty something bookish girl from Cape Town, South Africa; trying to carve a place for myself in this wild and unpredictable world. Grab a cuppa and join me as I take on life, one book at a time.

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ABOUT ME

Hello and welcome! I’m Nihaad, a twenty something bookish girl from Cape Town, South Africa; trying to carve a place for myself in this wild and unpredictable world. Grab a cuppa and join me as I take on life, one book at a time.

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